Predictors of Homelessness Among Families and Single Adults After Exit From Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Programs: Evidence From the Department of Veterans Affairs Supportive Services for Veteran Families Program

This article assesses the extent and predictors of homelessness among veterans (both veterans in families with children and single adults veterans) exiting the Supportive Services for Veteran Families (SSVF) program, which is a nationwide homelessness prevention and rapid re-housing program geared primarily toward those experiencing crisis homelessness. Among rapid re-housing participants, 16% and 26% of single adult veterans experienced an episode of homelessness at 1 and 2 years post-SSVF exit; the comparable figures at those follow-up times for veterans in families were 9.4% and 15.5%, respectively. Relatively fewer single adult veterans and veterans in families receiving homelessness prevention services experienced an episode of homelessness at 1 and 2 years post-SSVF exit. veteran-level characteristics, including age, gender, prior history of homelessness, and recent engagement with U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) health care, were generally more salient predictors of homelessness following SSVF exit than variables measuring SSVF program factors or community-level housing market conditions.     

Cores and Peripheries: Spatial Analysis of Housing Choice Voucher Distribution in the San Francisco Bay Area Region, 2000–2010

This study uses spatial regressions and spatial statistics to examine the changes in the distribution of Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) households within an expanded San Francisco Bay Area region. From 2000 to 2010, the density of HCV households grew disproportionately across the region, and areas of significant increase emerged in both the region’s urban cores and its rural periphery. Furthermore, the destination communities shared a set of common characteristics. In 2010 HCV households were more likely to locate in areas with lower housing prices, lower percentages of educated people, higher rates of poverty, and higher percentages of African American households when compared with the region as a whole. These findings suggest that voucher holders locate where housing is affordable. We conclude that in regions with tight housing markets, supply matters. This study also introduces housing researchers and policy makers to a methodological approach that addresses what is known in geostatistics as a change of support problem.     

How the Framework of Implementation Science Guided an Evidence‐Based Dependency Parenting Program Initiative in Florida

In Florida, like most states, many of the parenting programs that are being utilized with families in the dependency system are non‐evidence based, and fail to provide quantifiable data on parent progress during and after completion of the programs. Providing pertinent information in court on parents’ progress in a parenting program, as opposed to simply monitoring attendance, is a growing need voiced by dependency judges and child welfare case management professionals. Clear, reliable information related to parenting skills acquisition and insight can help to ensure that families involved in the child welfare system have access to quality services that improve outcomes for their children. The purpose of this paper is to detail how a statewide initiative to increase the number of Florida circuits providing evidence‐based parenting programs to their clients utilized implementation science to guide their process, and the degree to which the participating circuits achieved full implementation of evidence‐based parenting programs.     

浅析警察职业教育课程改革

警察职业教育课程的改革,应涵盖教学计划,教学大纲,教学材料、教辅资料,实验实训、见习、实习方案,教学评价方法等内容。警察职业教育应定位于实践导向课程模式,教学内容突出实战案例运用,教学训练方法采用实战情境和实战活动,注重隐性课程的作用和变革课程评价模式,警察职业教育课程体系应体现战、训、学三者的一体化,实现警察职业教育培养、训练应用型人才这一根本目标。     

Economic Sanctions and the Politics of IMF Lending

What effect do economic sanctions have on the IMF lending decisions? Though countries under economic sanctions often face significant economic and financial difficulties, no comprehensive research to date has explored whether the IMF as a de facto lender of last resort intervenes in those countries in need. We posit that economic coercion is likely to hinder the target’s access to IMF credits as sanctioning (sender) countries are likely to use their political influence in the IMF to deny funds to the destabilized target economies. To assess the empirical merits of the hypothesis, we combine data on the IMF lending with the economic sanctions data for 120 emerging market economies from 1975 to 2005. Results indicate that target countries are less likely to receive IMF funds, especially when under sanctions by the United States and international institutions. Our findings contradict the conventional wisdom that the IMF is tasked with providing lifelines to member governments in need of help to ease their short-term balance of payment problems. Further, as much as IMF loans can be used as positive inducements to acquire a country’s strategic cooperation, we show that they might also be used by sender countries as a punishment tool against target countries to amplify the impact of sanctions regimes.     

‘Breaking the backbone of farmers’: contestations in a rural employment guarantee scheme

This paper examines narratives about the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGA) to reveal people's interpretations of changes to agrarian relations in Andhra Pradesh. Through narratives, we are able to reveal more than just the material relations of production, unveiling internalised modes of control, how these have come under threat in recent times, and discursive strategies to restore them – albeit in modified form. It argues that the MGNREGA has become a site of ideological contestation, in which the scheme means either an entitlement to government support, or alternatively a threat to existing modes of control that can only be reinstated through the scheme itself.     

北京市公益慈善事业发展研究

慈善事业是社会保障体系的重要组成部分。北京市的公益慈善事业关系到首都社会经济发展的大局。文章对北京市近年来积极开展公益慈善事业进行了深入考察,对北京市慈善事业发展中存在的问题进行了细致分析,对北京市今后继续加大支持、引导力度,推动社会力量参与慈善事业,实现首都公益慈善事业发展的思路作了积极探索与对策研究。     

Engagement in after-school program activities: quality of experience from the perspective of participants

Middle school students’ experiences at after-school programs were compared as they participated in different types of activities and with different social partners. The students (N = 165) attended eight programs in three Midwestern states. A total of 1,596 experiences were randomly sampled using the Experience Sampling Method (ESM) during 1 week in the fall of 2001 and 1 week in the spring of 2002. Student engagement was conceptualized as the simultaneous experience of concentration, interest, and enjoyment. Students reported high levels of engagement while participating in sports activities and arts enrichment activities at the after-school programs, and low levels of engagement while completing homework at programs. They reported being more engaged in activities involving both adults and peers than activities with peers only. Concentrated effort, intrinsic motivation, and positive and negative mood states were also compared by program activities and social partners. Findings about participants’ subjective experiences and engagement in specific program activities have implications for understanding after-school programs as a context for youth development.

FATHERHOOD IN THE CHILD SUPPORT SYSTEM: AN INNOVATIVE PROBLEM‐SOLVING APPROACH TO AN OLD PROBLEM1

The article is a summary of the development of the District of Columbia Superior Court's Fathering Court Initiative. The Fathering Court Initiative is a problem‐solving court that has developed an innovative approach to child support cases that involves noncustodial parents returning from a period of incarceration. The program is designed to operate as a court based partnership between government and private sector organizations that match resources with family needs to promote responsible co‐parenting.     

Licensing,Accreditation and Quality Improvement

This article provides an explanation of why consideration is needed of historical practice issues when designing new regulatory regimes. It also suggests some practice techniques that can be applied both to existing and new regulatory regimes to enhance the effectiveness of the regulation. It does so by exploring the problems faced by existing service providers and regulators following the introduction of a new regulatory regime intended to raise the standard of out‐of‐home care services in NSW. This involved agencies making the transition from a licensing regime based on minimum standards under the Children (Care and Protection) Act 1987 to accreditation, employing optimum practice standards, under the Children and Young Persons (Care and Protection) Act 1998.